Liverpool’s 2025/2026 season has begun in stark contrast to pre-season expectations.
Rather than establishing early control and consistency under Arne Slot, performances have been inconsistent, with rhythm, attacking cohesion and efficiency fluctuating throughout the opening fixtures.
This instability has extended beyond the team structure; even Mohamed Salah, long Liverpool’s most reliable attacking reference, has endured a rare downturn, registering just four goals and three assists in the first 16 matches.
Compounding these challenges, Slot’s management of Salah’s minutes has sparked debate, while turning recent fixtures into a tactical testing ground.
Salah’s enforced rest disrupted established attacking patterns but also prompted Slot to trial alternative solutions, reshaping roles, spacing and, at times, the front-line structure itself.
These matches played without Salah have provided early insight into Liverpool’s contingency planning.
The issue becomes more pressing during Salah’s absence at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, requiring sustainable, rather than temporary, solutions.
This Liverpool data analysis combines data-led and tactical analysis to explore how Slot may restructure the forward line, focusing on the underperforming EkitikéIsak partnership and the potential role of Dominik Szoboszlai as a structural alternative, occupying the right-sided half-spaces Salah typically exploits, ensuring attacking balance in his absence.
Possible Liverpool Lineups Without Salah
In matches where Mohamed Salah was rested rather than injured, Arne Slot treated Liverpool’s line-ups as tactical test cases ahead of longer absences, such as AFCON.
Liverpool Lineups Without Mohamed Salah
As illustrated in the image, the primary structure tested was a 4-2-3-1, built around an attacking core of Ekitiké leading the line, supported by Wirtz centrally and Gakpo drifting from the left, with Mac Allister and Gravenberch forming the midfield base.
This shape was specifically designed to allow Dominik Szoboszlai to occupy the right-sided half-spaces that Salah typically exploits, providing vertical and lateral coverage in the final third while maintaining central rotation and structural balance.
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